in which i go on about small expensive apartments
there's an apartment building going up down the street from me, and even tho it's not finished yet they had an open house with a couple of model apartments today. they're small apartments with small bedrooms and small kitchens (nice-looking cabinets, tho) and windows that open sideways only about a couple of inches - which means you're going to be running the central a/c a lot, because there are a lot of windows and they're large and you can't open any of them enough to get a breeze - and even tho they have stacked washer-dryers (which is important!) they also have limited closet space and no extra storage. the kitchen/living/dining space is open and airy and the bathrooms are a normal size, and those big windows that don't really open are pretty soundproof, so when the train goes by (the building is right next to the commuter rail tracks [1]) you can hear it but it's not going to interrupt your conversation or wake you out of a sound sleep. the one-bedrooms are smaller than my apartment and at least twice as expensive, and you have to pay extra for parking. (either $75 or $100 for covered, and $50 for uncovered.) for the money they want for rent, they should include a parking space.
those of you who rent apartments, do you have to pay extra for parking? (i don't. i park on the street because i can't use the driveway, but even in my previous apartment where i did have access to the driveway, that came with the apartment.)
the realtor who showed me the models asked if i thought college students would be interested in renting there, and i said no, it's too far. (tufts is up the street, but it's a walk and there are much closer student digs.) but also? unless things have changed dramatically since i was in college, and allowing for the fact that i went to school in a college town in the midwest and not a major metropolitan area in new england, undergrads aren't going to want to spend that kind of money on an unfurnished apartment that isn't even close to class. i thought it was weird and showed kind of a lack of preparation for the realtor to ask me who i thought the target market was for these expensive little apartments. i said people who work in boston proper, on account of the t station being right next door.
and then i went to the comic shop and bought lots (the next volume of the nameless city is out and if you like vaguely historically-flavored graphic novels set in a chinese-ish city i highly recommend it. read vol 1 first, tho) and then i saw the lost city of z with my sister. it feels verrrrry long and wasn't quite as swashbuckling and indiana jones-ish as i was expecting, but i enjoyed it. i mean, charlie hunnam, i really enjoy watching him on screen. we even got a preview for the new king arthur movie, for maximum hunnam. it looks totally batshit and more fantastical than anything really recognizably king arthur, but i want to see it. i like guy ritchie's sherlock holmes movies, and did i mention charlie hunnam? :D and jude law. and it doesn't claim to be "the real story of king arthur!" (king arthur, i am so looking at you) and sometimes i'm really easy.
there's an elephant, tho, and that's just weird.
back in the early 70s, when the epa was new, it commissioned a photo project basically documenting the reasons it needed to exist. it was called documerica and it produced tens of thousands of pics, most of which have never been shown.
here's a really neat ad from heineken and even tho i don't love uber here's a super cute ad from uber in the philippines.
and now the daily poem. :D
our Father I do love to walk
down to the shore at dawn
while the ground is cold
and there sprinkle my cells
to smashed ocean radios
I dream that I was born
with no tongue and that
I can neither ask nor
answer nor understand
questions about where
I come from that the waves
are my clapping sisters
so many dark swallowed
ships my deleted thoughts
cannon and coin pulp
my new body and that any
one of a million canyons
trembling with the psalms
of stones is my easily
remembered mother who
easily remembers me
--Nathan Parker, "Prayer"
[1] one of the subway lines is supposedly going to be extended, and this brand-new luxury apartment building is right next to one of the supposed new stations. i say "supposedly" because they've been talking about it since i moved to greater boston in 1997. i'll believe the extension when i see it.
those of you who rent apartments, do you have to pay extra for parking? (i don't. i park on the street because i can't use the driveway, but even in my previous apartment where i did have access to the driveway, that came with the apartment.)
the realtor who showed me the models asked if i thought college students would be interested in renting there, and i said no, it's too far. (tufts is up the street, but it's a walk and there are much closer student digs.) but also? unless things have changed dramatically since i was in college, and allowing for the fact that i went to school in a college town in the midwest and not a major metropolitan area in new england, undergrads aren't going to want to spend that kind of money on an unfurnished apartment that isn't even close to class. i thought it was weird and showed kind of a lack of preparation for the realtor to ask me who i thought the target market was for these expensive little apartments. i said people who work in boston proper, on account of the t station being right next door.
and then i went to the comic shop and bought lots (the next volume of the nameless city is out and if you like vaguely historically-flavored graphic novels set in a chinese-ish city i highly recommend it. read vol 1 first, tho) and then i saw the lost city of z with my sister. it feels verrrrry long and wasn't quite as swashbuckling and indiana jones-ish as i was expecting, but i enjoyed it. i mean, charlie hunnam, i really enjoy watching him on screen. we even got a preview for the new king arthur movie, for maximum hunnam. it looks totally batshit and more fantastical than anything really recognizably king arthur, but i want to see it. i like guy ritchie's sherlock holmes movies, and did i mention charlie hunnam? :D and jude law. and it doesn't claim to be "the real story of king arthur!" (king arthur, i am so looking at you) and sometimes i'm really easy.
there's an elephant, tho, and that's just weird.
back in the early 70s, when the epa was new, it commissioned a photo project basically documenting the reasons it needed to exist. it was called documerica and it produced tens of thousands of pics, most of which have never been shown.
here's a really neat ad from heineken and even tho i don't love uber here's a super cute ad from uber in the philippines.
and now the daily poem. :D
our Father I do love to walk
down to the shore at dawn
while the ground is cold
and there sprinkle my cells
to smashed ocean radios
I dream that I was born
with no tongue and that
I can neither ask nor
answer nor understand
questions about where
I come from that the waves
are my clapping sisters
so many dark swallowed
ships my deleted thoughts
cannon and coin pulp
my new body and that any
one of a million canyons
trembling with the psalms
of stones is my easily
remembered mother who
easily remembers me
--Nathan Parker, "Prayer"
[1] one of the subway lines is supposedly going to be extended, and this brand-new luxury apartment building is right next to one of the supposed new stations. i say "supposedly" because they've been talking about it since i moved to greater boston in 1997. i'll believe the extension when i see it.